K2 Solutions Associated Partner in the AllWaters

Europe is entering a decisive decade for water, oceans, and the blue economy, with EIT AllWaters at the heart of this transformation. As the winning consortium chosen to lead EIT Water, the tenth Knowledge and Innovation Community of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, AllWaters has a mission that goes far beyond a single sector or project. It is about safeguarding Europe’s water resilience, accelerating breakthrough innovation, and reshaping how we view rivers, coasts, and seas as the backbone of sustainable growth. For K2 Solutions, being an associated partner in this community means joining an alliance that will define how Europe responds to one of its most strategic challenges.

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology has launched EIT Water, a new Knowledge and Innovation Community dedicated to water, marine, and maritime ecosystems. After a competitive call in January 2025 and a rigorous expert evaluation, the EIT Governing Board selected the AllWaters consortium in November 2025 to lead Europe’s response to growing water scarcity, more frequent droughts and floods, and the degradation of aquatic ecosystems. EIT Water will deliver entrepreneurial education, create and accelerate startups, and support innovation-driven research, uniting education, research, and business into a powerful engine for the blue and circular economy. Closely aligned with key EU partnerships and missions, it pioneers an integrated approach across inland waters, coastal zones, and ocean spaces, showing how interconnected our water systems and futures are.

EIT Water will bring together 50 partners from across Europe, including universities, research organisations, companies, ports, clusters, NGOs and public authorities, creating a vibrant community where ideas, talent and investment meet. To stay close to local challenges and opportunities, EIT Water will establish eight Co-Location Centres in Aarhus, Leeds, Berlin, Antwerp, Vienna, Šibenik, Málaga and Varna, offering regional gateways into a Europe-wide network for innovators, students and entrepreneurs. This structure means a startup working on nature-based solutions for flood protection or smart port operations can find support not only in its own region but also across the entire EIT ecosystem, benefiting from shared testbeds, markets and expertise. For coastal and maritime regions like those where K2 Solutions operates, this is a unique platform to turn local knowledge into solutions with European reach.

The scale of EIT Water is reflected in its financial and impact ambitions. The community will receive up to €5 million in startup funding through 2026 to build its governance, operations and first business plan, with full operations launching in 2027 under the EIT’s long-term support model. Over time, EIT funding will decrease as EIT Water attracts more investment and moves towards financial sustainability, a proven approach already used by other EIT Communities in climate, energy, health and urban mobility. By 2033, EIT Water aims to see hundreds of innovations marketed, dozens of new startups created, and over a thousand startups and scale-ups supported, while avoiding significant economic losses from ecosystem degradation through smarter, more resilient water solutions.

For K2 Solutions, being an associated partner in AllWaters is both a recognition of our expertise and an invitation to help shape a European response to water and maritime challenges. Our foundation’s long-standing focus on maritime economy, waterborne transport and environmental protection fits naturally with EIT Water’s ambition to connect science, industry and territories around a common blue-economy vision. Through AllWaters, we can co-create new solutions for ports, coasts and inland waterways, support startups and researchers working on breakthrough ideas, and bring the perspective of the Baltic and wider European maritime regions into a strong innovation dialogue. We are proud to add our voice, knowledge and energy to this major European initiative and excited to help ensure that the future of water in Europe is resilient, innovative and sustainable.